Locals Set to Clash With Interstate Buyers at Perth

For two years Western Australia effectively seceded from the rest of the country and the state’s Thoroughbred industry treated it as such, supporting its local Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale with gusto, but this year the locals will have to compete with an influx of interstate investors.

Magic Millions WA supremo David Houston said the health of the racing industry in the West, along with the extra interest from buyers from the East, could see demand outstrip supply at the 327-lot sale, leaving him confident of a strong market over the next two days.

“We are almost like another country over here, so certainly, our local buying bench has shown a lot of interest in looking at the horses over the past month or so and I know they’re very keen to be active,” Houston told ANZ Bloodstock News Feb. 22.

“They’ve got a good number of orders, there’s been a lot of good racing, there’s a lot of people winning prize money, which is very good over here and it’s being shared around, and it’s seemingly really promoting a lot of interest in wanting to buy horses.”

Darling View Thoroughbreds’ Brent Atwell, who consigns yearlings in conjunction with Phil Ibbotson of Westbury Park and Wayne Beynon of Einoncliff Park under the Western Breeders Alliance banner, said interest in his draft of 31 yearlings had “really ramped up” over the past two days. 

“We’ve got a really even draft this year. The three farms have done a really good job. The horses have been very popular during inspections,” Atwell said.

“There’s a lot of positivity and I’ll harp on about it again, but the Westspeed bonus scheme is huge for the local market and our buyers seem like they’ll be particularly strong this year.”

Atwell also stands WA’s premier stallion Playing God , who has 22 in the sale including seven in the Alliance’s draft, and said interstate and international buyers were starting to take notice of the sire’s prowess.

Playing God is the sire of 11 individual stakes winners, seven of them coming since August 1, 2021.

“I can’t wait to see more of the Playing Gods hit the East Coast and internationally. Some of the agents have been talking about Hong Kong and getting a few up there,” Atwell said

“He’s absolutely dominating the local race scene. He’s had six more stakes winners than any other stallion in the West over the last 24 months.”

Some familiar faces from interstate in trainers Tony McEvoy, Simon Zahra, Andrew Noblet, Lloyd Kennewell, Gary Portelli, and Patrick Payne have made the most of the free movement, as have agents Damon Gabbedy, Johnny McKeever, Sheamus Mills, Jim Clarke, Mark Pilkington, and Rob Archibald from Annabel Neasham Racing.

JD Hayes is also on hand inspecting the first crop of the former Lindsay Park-trained Long Leaf, a stakes winner at 2 and 3 in Australia and New Zealand, while breeze-up traders Dean Harvey and Tal Nolen have made the trip west.

“It will be an exploratory mission for some of those guys. With our average over here (AU$68,515 in 2022 for Book 1), it’s very inviting to come over and look at the horses and see if there is something that is suitable to take back to the East and I am sure there is,” Houston said. 

“In the past few years, we’ve been competing well with the horses who have left the state, so they’ll certainly keep our local buyers honest and I think our locals will really serve it up to the interstaters.” 

The Inglis Classic and Tasmanian sales have experienced small declines year-on-year, but Houston indicated that there was no reason to suggest Perth would head the same way, arguing that buyers would be keen to take advantage of the quality Western Australian-bred horses set to go through the ring.

“We have a different economy over here, the mining and mineral industry is very strong and all the people in the smart end of town tell me that there’s money floating around,” he said.

“Just being a small community, we will band together… and it’ll be strong.”

He added: “The interesting thing about Perth is, the horses we have in the catalog here are essentially the best horses that we produce. There are very few who leave the state to be sold elsewhere. 

“You can come here in the knowledge that this is near enough to the best horses that we have.”

Jaime O’Bree, the former Scenic Lodge yearling manager who now runs Ruby Racing and Breeding with her brother Daniel, said some WA breeders were inspecting yearlings at the Perth sale to reinvest and take advantage of the lucrative Westspeed bonuses.

“I am quite positive going into this sale. We still have a lot of interest in the lower-to-medium bracket and the interstaters will come in and challenge for those top horses and they still have interest in the Westspeed horses as well, which is a huge win for WA breeders,” O’Bree said.

“It is really hard to knock and I can’t see how it’s not viable for buyers to take a percentage of a horse or one whole horse as the money you get back justifies the money you’re able to spend at the sales and the quality of horse that you could get.” 

February 18, a colt by first-season sire Tassort in the Ruby Racing and Breeding draft received a big pedigree update when his 3-year-old half sister Wollombi won the Vanity (G3) at Flemington.

O’Bree purchased the Tassort colt with clients on the advice of agent Grant Burns’ Premium Bloodstock Services for AU$12,000 from the Kingstar Farm draft at last year’s Magic Millions National Weanling Sale and Wollombi’s rich vein of form—she has won three straight—could provide the breeders of group-winning stallion Tiger Of Malay with another windfall.